Editor’s Note: For now over 75 years, Baylor Line has been publishing vivid storytelling from across the Baylor Family. I don’t think our archives full of deep, inspirational features should live solely on shelves, so we are bringing them back to life in BL Classics. These days it’d be impossible for most students to complete college without a computer, and for most professors to teach without the technology. Kids are growing up in the digital age and become native to the online space. With that perspective, enjoy this “double feature” from The Baylor Line’s November 1982 issue—the first part about the technical integration of computers into Baylor’s campus, and the second offering comic relief.
Computer literacy is something that President Herbert Reynolds takes very seriously. So seriously, in fact, that he has made it one of Baylor’s major goals for the 1980s—for students and faculty alike.
Reynolds recognizes that computers, by necessity, must be woven among the threads of Baylor’s educational fabric. “It is, therefore,” he asserts, “most imperative that we encourage and support our faculty and students in responding to these revolutionary developments that will change the face not only of education but of our entire society.”
He knows what he’s talking about.
“Dr. Reynolds is one of the few people on campus that really understands the impact of computers,” says Dr. James Netherton, vice president for executive affairs.
To meet the electronic challenge head-on, Reynolds has put into action an aggressive plan to upgrade and expand Baylor’s computer equipment and facilities. Moreover, he is completely committed to instilling in every Baylor student a basic understanding of computers and their implications for a modern technological society. Toward that latter end, the administration is working to develop a computer literacy course into a future requirement for all students. The course now is offered as an elective in the College of Arts and Sciences, but the Hankamer School of Business already requires a similar course of all its students.
“You have to have a knowledge of what computers can and can’t do,” says Dr. Donald Hardcastle, a professor of physics and director of learning resources, in explaining the purpose of the literacy course. “It’s one of the major skills you need as an educated person.”
To the uninitiated, computers can seem cold and impersonal and not a little intimidating.
“Fear of the machine is natural,” notes Dr. James Bargainer, chairman of the computer and engineering sciences department. “The main goal of the literacy course is to get people over that fear.”
For the student who wants more than just a familiarity with computers, the Department of Computer and Engineering Sciences at Baylor offers a full complement of courses leading to two degrees in computer science: a broad-based bachelor of arts degree and a more specialized bachelor of science degree oriented toward computer software. In addition, a computer engineering option is available in the engineering science program for those wishing to design computer systems; and a B.B.A. degree with a major in computer information systems is offered by the School of Business. In the School of Education a student may pursue a bachelor of science in education with a primary or secondary teaching field in computer science.
Baylor first offered computer science courses about twenty years ago through the mathematics and physics departments and the business school. A recognition of “computer science” as a separate discipline came ten years ago, at which time the curriculum was expanded and the first faculty member was hired to teach specifically in that field. In 1980 the academic department was created which Bargainer now heads.
“The change was designed to encourage the growth of both engineering science and computer science,” he explains.
Indeed, it did—about thirty percent per year. For the 1981-82 academic year, Baylor had a total of 240 computer science majors enrolled.
As testament to the prowess of some of these majors are the university’s first-place honors in the top contest nationwide for computer programming skills. Baylor’s four-student team walked away No. 1 in the 1982 National Association of Computing Machinery programming competition last winter in Indianapolis, Indiana, winning over the likes of Purdue University and the University of California at Los Angeles.
The honor was “something like winning the Rose Bowl,” says Bargainer proudly
In addition to much deserved prestige, the win netted about $15,000 in computer hardware for Baylor and microcomputers for team members.
Hardware is something in which Baylor made a major investment this fall with the installation of a new Honeywell DPS 8/44 computer for administrative purposes and a VAX 11/780 for academic computing. The Honeywell, which handles student, alumni and financial records, has four times the memory of the Honeywell 636 it replaced and fifty percent more “grinding power,” says Dr. Ed Harris, associate director for computing services.
But it’s the new VAX that affects BU students most directly since it is dedicated strictly to instruction. Coupled with another VAX put in place a year ago, the latest addition just about doubles the number of simultaneous users the system can handle. With the 140 terminals on the two VAX, plus the 30 terminals on the business school’s IBM 4331 computer, Baylor has a total of 170 terminals for academic use.
That works out to a terminal/user ratio of one to ten, which is “probably as good a ratio as anyone,” according to Hardcastle.
In addition to the terminals for classroom instruction, the university has terminals available in five satellite centers across campus, including two in Russell Dormitory which are accessible to residents twenty-four hours a day.
Getting additional space for computer facilities has been an objective at Baylor for some time, says Netherton. That was achieved shortly before the fall semester began this year when the university had the opportunity to purchase from the Waco Independent School District the Kirk Wilson School on the west side of campus. After extensive remodeling which will take several months, the building will be ready by fall 1983 to house the computation center and the computer and engineering sciences department.
Baylor’s computer programming team won the ‘Rose Bowl’ competition over Purdue and U.C.L.A. last year.
While terminals and the large mainframe computers which provide their brainpower are the cornerstone of Baylor’s computing structure, desktop microcomputers are quickly becoming its building blocks. Microcomputers are terminal, display screen and brain all in one compact desktop unit and not much bigger than a typewriter.
Reynolds is convinced they are the way of the future. (He has one in his private office.) As he told a group of Fort Worth Rotarians recently:
“The introduction of microprocessors (the essential component of microcomputers) is the biggest revolution in higher education in this century.”
Eighteen months ago, the computer and engineering science department had six micros. Now it has thirty and by the end of next year will have forty to fifty, says Hardcastle. Another twenty belong to the business school.
For the purposes of instructional computing, Hardcastle continues, Baylor has “facilities as fine as those available at any university.” Dartmouth College, he believes, has had one of the best academic computing set-ups in the country. “I’ve been watching Dartmouth for years. Now we’re fairly close to being equal with Dartmouth.”
Within the next four to six years, he predicts, Baylor will have 400 to 600 terminals and microcomputers and about half of those will be for academic computing.
Using computers as instructional tools has definite advantages for the student. “It’s like having your own personal tutor,” notes Hardcastle. Students can ask a computer a question and get an instant response. They can ask the same question over and over again if necessary and the computer doesn’t mind.
“And if a computer tells you you’re wrong,” says Hardcastle, “it’s not the same as having a person tell you. The computer really offers a non-offensive correction.”
With the graphic capabilities of Baylor’s modern computers, the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” truly comes to life in three-dimensional drawings in full color. Add to that the dynamic nature of computer graphics and it becomes clear why educators are finding computers such innovative teaching media.
One exercise for Hardcastle’s physics students is to calculate the trajectory of a rocket to the moon. Using computer graphics, his students watch their rockets on the display screen as they circle the moon and return safely to earth, or crash, depending on the correctness of their calculations.
Even so, a computer by any other name is still a machine, and it’s hard to have a personal relationship with one.
“It’s that personal relationship that builds character (in students),” asserts Hardcastle. That’s why computers at Baylor are, and will continue to be, used as an augmentation in the classroom and not a replacement for teachers.
But to some of Baylor’s faculty, computers do represent a unique challenge. Netherton puts it this way:
“Students are coming to the campus now who want to learn about computers—we send them to the experts. But there are a lot of home computers these days which means future students will be introduced to them at an earlier age. Ten to twelve years down the road, students will arrive on campus with an extensive knowledge of computers and expect computers to be a fundamental part of most courses on campus. This will be a formidable challenge to the majority of faculty whose formal training included little or no study of computers,” Netherton predicts.
The campus “experts,” however, are “gradually making headway” in initiating the faculty novices, says Hardcastle (see related story). While he estimates that about twenty percent of Baylor’s faculty is currently “computer literate,” within three years he expects that almost half the faculty “will have been exposed to computers in a direct way.”
The exact status of Baylor’s drive toward campus-wide computer literacy by the end of the decade is difficult to predict. But one thing is certain: It has top priority.
Comic relief: The faculty bytes back . . .
They drifted slowly into the classroom, some in twos, some singly. There were eighteen of them altogether, faculty members representing fourteen different academic departments at Baylor. They were gathering for one purpose: to learn about computers.
It was the first day of a three-day workshop on computers which was part of the summer faculty development institute.
As the “students” were getting settled in their seats, many of them were giggling nervously. After all, they knew little or nothing about computers.
“Well, I do know something about the big ones,” said one faculty member, “but not the little ones.” His eyes swept over the room filled with twenty microcomputers. Then he grinned. “Some of them bite.”
“As long as they don’t tickle,” quipped a voice from the back of the room.
Jim Nolen walked in, wrote his name on the chalkboard, and everyone knew class had begun.
Dr. Nolen, an associate professor of computer and engineering sciences, asked his students to take a few minutes to look at the equipment before each of them: an Apple II Plus computer and terminal (a fancy version of a typewriter with a brain), two portable disk drives (small rectangular black boxes), and a display screen (identical twin to a TV).
“Why did you sign up for this class?” he asked. Taken by surprise, many mumbled something like “to learn about computers, of course.”
“To impress the administration,” said the forthright young man who knew about big computers but not little ones. He grinned again.
“My department chairman said I had to,” admitted another.
A latecomer tried to slip into the room unnoticed.
“Shouldn’t you be home?” one mischievous classmate piped up.
“Probably so,” she shot back. “I’m not sure I can handle this.”
“Don’t worry.” soothed Nolen. “This will be high school level.”
“Oh, I hope it’s below that,” moaned another computer novice.
“Okay,” continued the affable instructor, undaunted. “Let’s look at some of these special purpose keys on the terminal.” The escape key (hmmm, that had a defeatist ring to it), the control key (that sounded more encouraging), and the reset or “oops” key (ah hah, a sense of humor] …
Nolen picked up an object that resembled a small but wafer-thin 45 r.p.m. phonograph record in a jacket. “A diskette,” he explained, a mini-disk for storing information. “You record on it like you tape record at home.”
“Now take your diskette, put your thumb on the label and push it in,” he instructed as he demonstrated how to insert the diskette into the little black box.
Some put their diskettes in backwards and a few tried to insert the wrong ones.
“Is this the most difficult step?” asked the latecomer, wishing it were so.
Nolen told the class that what they had just done—load the system and make it ready for operation—was called “booting.”
“I’ve booted,” said one professor, obviously pleased with himself.
“Some of us punt,” groused another.
Nolen began explaining how to approach problem-solving with a computer.
“Remember,” he said, “you can do it (solve the problem) yourself, so you can tell the computer how.”
That day the class would be learning how to use a computer for keeping a class roster and averaging grades. Think through the process involved, as if you were going to average the grades by hand, Nolen told the teachers.
The “human computer”—the brain—often works so fast that it bypasses such an analysis, he pointed out. Yet it’s that methodical, step-by-step procedure which forms the very basis for computer programming. It’s known as an algorithm.
“You need to develop an algorithm for the problem you’re solving in minute detail that you understand,” said Nolen. Once a computer is programmed, it can process enormous amounts of data in split seconds.
By the end of the three-day workshop the teachers would have looked at the range of computer applications in their various disciplines, Nolen said. They would become familiar with the VAX 11/780 academic computer on campus and work with several commercially available programs.
“We’ll even compose a short piece of music,” Nolen promised.
By afternoon the teachers were really getting the hang of things and it became increasingly obvious—they were enjoying themselves, especially when they tapped into the microcomputers’ graphic capabilities. With a few strokes of the keys, they could make small squares appear on the screen in six different colors. As they added squares, they manipulated them to form geometric patterns.
One teacher was diligently on his way to creating what looked like a piece of modern art when he hit a wrong key. Instantly the screen was filled from border to border with a melange of unintelligible white symbols. He jerked his hands from the keyboard and in a voice mixed with surprise and amusement spurted out:
“It’s glossolalia!”
That confirmed it. If this clever class could cultivate computers as they have their wit, they need not worry. They would have it made.
